Incredible Egg

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us."

Henry David Thoreau probably did not mean the incredible EGG but in our effort to produce healthy food we began this great adventure with 30 assorted day-old pullets (baby chicks). These sweet little pullets were loved from the beginning and diligently watched over by the watchful and thoughtful Molly the cat. Our grandson also kept Molly and the pullets in check.

Months later "Roo," who was our one surprise and did not grow up to become a pullet but a Silver-laced Wyandotte "Rooster" and each of the remaining 29 pullets (all named and loved) started producing two dozen fertilized eggs. That's 24 eggs daily. That's a lot of eggs!

The grandchildren took quickly to the chickens, especially ROO!

Each grand child felt like a pirate with hidden treasure whenever a double yolk was found. Not all chickens will lay double-yolked eggs!

Every hen’s reproductive system consists of an ovary and an oviduct.  The ovary contains undeveloped egg yolks — the number of yolks (ovum) are the total number of eggs this chicken will lay during her entire life. One hour after the previous egg was laid, one ovum is released into the oviduct and develops.  Young pullets — a chicken that is less than a year old is called a pullet — who lay double yolks release TWO ovum within a couple hours, and these became our treasured double-yolked eggs.    

Heredity can cause some hens or breeds to have a higher number of double yolks in pullets just beginning to lay.  As our hens matured, they no longer produced double-yolk eggs BUT an abundance of single-yolk eggs approximately every 25 hours, and we ate eggs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner: 

1) scrambled,  

2) poached, 

3) baked, 

5) fried, 

6) boiled as in plain or served hard-boiled with foods as varied as Japanese Miso Ramen or as traditional as Cobb Salad, and of course our family favorite...deviled eggs,

7) eggs make the best sauces, batters, doughs, custards, and more.

We gave eggs to family and friends, who made frittatas, omelets, breakfast burritos, pancakes, crepes, waffles, quiche, homemade bread, soft-boiled egg salad sandwich  —  and ice cream  —  this list could go on and on because we love eggs!

Jacques Pepin said, “I think that the egg is probably one of the greatest foods that we can have in the kitchen, whether we cook it by itself or combine it into a souffle or custard, or other type of thing. For me, I can’t live without eggs.”

We can't live without ice cream! 

Basic Goat Milk Ice Cream Recipe:

2 cups raw Nubian goat milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon extract

The variations of this recipe are endless, but a good base is the perfect starter!

i.e.

Chocolate Raspberry Ice cream

2 cups raw Nubian goat milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon raspberry extract

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Place the goat's milk, heavy cream, and sugar in an ice cream maker such as our Cuisinart compressor ice cream/gelato maker and set to a 60 minute cycle. Allow the mixture to mix for approximately 1-2 minutes then add the extract and cocoa powder. Check flavor and consistency at approximately 35 minutes. The ice cream at about 50 minutes should be ready to transfer to an ice cream container and thus the freezer. For best results chill your storage container prior to putting the ice cream in it so to not shock and melt your chilled ice cream.  

Lemon Ice Cream

2 cups raw Nubian goat milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Zest of half a lemon (optional)

From our kitchen to yours. <3 

Hawk Girl the ultimate survivor and rebel of our bunch. 

Contributors Karen/Diane

Heritage

Just realized I will be gone before my family realizes HOW MUCH I LOVE them if I don't make time to share my gratitude and memories.. priceless heritage!

Memories become priceless heritage only if they are shared. Our eight children are grown, some married and now raising their own families, some single; all busily engaged in a good cause. By sharing not only my memories but also those of family and friends, we become more than a cluster of individuals. We become a family committed to sharing the good life, which is the best life after all.

All families have memories of shared meals and time together. Thelma Ruth Wylie Brown was my paternal grandmother.  While I have many fond memories of my Great-Grandmother Bertha Hardy Wylie and Grandmother Thelma Ruth Wylie Brown, none of my children met their Great-Great-Grandmother Bertha and most of my children never met their Great-Grandmother Ruth. These women, who were both "Grandma" to me, share a treasured place in my memory. We are never too young to learn and never too old to change. Record your priceless heritage, today! Here's a wonderful memory for our family to share entitled "Nicknames" written by my cousin

Avis Shreve.

Story to follow....

Easy Goat Cheese Recipe

This summer we were inundated with goat's milk from our TWO wonderful and sweet dairy goats, Topaz and Quartz. We quickly had to find ways to use the milk other than just cereal and basic cooking. Thus the search began. In this household there are two things that make a happy house....CHEESE & ICE CREAM. For father's day the previous year the kids had gotten their father the Cuisinart ICE-100 Compressor Ice Cream and Gelato Maker, which I would highly recommend. 

http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-ICE-100-Compressor-Cream-Gelato/dp/B006UKLUFS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1411147039&sr=8-3&keywords=gelato+maker

On the cheese front we started with simple Chevre cheese (soft goat cheese). We tried two recipes for this, distilled white vinegar and lemon. This is an acidity way of curdling the cheese vs. using a culture. Cultures can be expensive when you don't have access to a mother culture. Since we also were just "testing" the waters we went with the easy route. I learned things the hard way...Lemon is in my opinion a disgusting route. It was way way too lemon flavored. So here is my easy and fool proof way. And yes I completely mean FOOL proof. I have on more than one occasion let the milk get beyond the recommended temperature and still had no problem.

4 quarts raw goat milk

1 cup white distilled vinegar***

Yes! It is really that simple. Place the gallon of milk into a large stock pot on low heat. Occasionally stir the milk, but allow it to reach a temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit. The milk is beginning to simmer at this point. Turn the burner off and remove from heat, quickly stir in the white distilled vinegar. Allow to sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. Then pour through cheese cloth or a linen towel. I found that linen towels were more effective. I then hung the cheese up and allowed it to drip the remaining whey out for 30 minutes to an hour. Because this was not made with a culture the remaining whey cannot be used for making ricotta, but it can be retained for giving to pigs or other animals. Or if you like the flavor you can drink it; some people think it tastes similar to buttermilk. 

After the cheese has drained dump it into a plastic container and add your desired spices. My go-to was granulated garlic and salt to taste with a dash of pepper. You can really do anything though. Jalapenos, strawberries, blueberries, with those variations you can use the cheese in the stead of a cream cheese spread onto toast or even crackers if you are feeling fancy. 

Keep posted for more from the Edward's Crazy Farm. 

- Diane

***I suggest buying gallon containers of white distilled vinegar from Costco. They have a higher acidity despite the fact they claim to be the same as a generic wal-mart brand.